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Thursday, January 30, 2014

Day 30 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. I made it! Although I did skip a few days (I ended up with 27 postings.) I want to extend a great big thank you to all the people who looked at and commented on my paintings this month. You really helped keep me going especially when I thought I had run out of things to paint.

I had so much fun doing yesterday's orange that I decided to try another abstract/realism mix. I went for the back lighting which gives it a surreal effect. I also got a bit looser with the shadow under the orange. Based on what I learned today, I plan to go back into yesterday's abstract pattern to make it work a little better. After that, I think I'll paint something other than oranges for a bit, although they turned out to be a really good vehicle for some major experimentation.

To purchase this painting, please click here (you will be transported to the 30 in 30 Challenge Paintings page on my website.)

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Day 29 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. I was looking at some photos of paintings that integrate representational and abstract elements and was inspired to try this out. It was clearly a lot of fun. So much so, that I plan to do another one tomorrow. I can see that getting the balance and location of the abstract elements right can be tricky.

Artist's Note (March 19): I wasn't entirely satisfied with how this painting came out, so I made a bunch of changes to it. It is now called Orange on a Windowsill. You can find it in a subsequent post, as well as on my web site and in my Daily Paintworks Gallery.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Day 28 of the 30 paintings in 30 Days Challenge. Today, I was trying for a more abstract background for the orange. This is a good start, but I think I can take the idea further and make it more exciting (something for tomorrow.)

To purchase this painting, click here (you will be linked to the 30 in 30 Challenge Paintings page on my website.)

Monday, January 27, 2014

Day 27 in the 30 in 30 Challenge. Most of my orange paintings have used a side light of one angle or another. Today I thought I would try using a really strong back light like you would get with the sun coming through the window. I could envision how I wanted this painting to look but getting it to that point proved challenging. Still, I like how this came out. I think I got the effect I was after.

To purchase this painting, click here (you will go to the 30 in 30 Challenge Paintings page on my website.)

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Day 26 of the 30 in 30 Challenge. In today's painting, I switched the hot and cool colors. I gave the oranges a green under painting and then left the lit sides a bit greenish. Tough to photo, though.

On another note, I took most of the afternoon off to go on a snowy owl hunt. There have been lots of sightings of snowy owls around Dead Creek (a wildlife management area about an hour's drive from here), so my husband and I decided to go and see if we could spot one. We not only saw one, but it decided to come down out of the tree it was in and swoop low over our heads before returning to its perch above the fields. Wow! What a magnificent bird!

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Day 25 of the 30 in 30 Challenge. After playing with the orange-green-blue combination for a few days, I wanted to see what would happen if I placed the beautiful oranges against a warm neutral background. So this time I used all shades of brown and tan to create the light-dark pattern. I added pale yellow to the light struck area (it doesn't come through very well in this photo, although it is pale) to make it feel sunny and I let the shadow side of the orange disappear into the browns of the background. As with the other orange paintings, I restricted myself to a yellow, an orange, a red, and a blue plus white and (int his case) buff. The blue here is ultramarine blue rather than the phthalo blue I used in the other orange paintings.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Day 24 of the 30 in 30 Challenge. Another day, another orange. Actually, I was playing with lighting here. I asked myself, "what if I tried strong sidelight?" To do that I decided to make a lead in band of rich yellow-green on the left and made the cloth under the orange lighter, too. The dark areas on the right are a mix of red and blue to make them dark with a bit of yellow to make it greenish (this photo doesn't show it very well.) Then I gave the orange a light green base under the orange - not much of it shows through but I think it still makes a difference.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Day 21 of the 30 in 30 Challenge. Today I was feeling stuck. Yesterday's painting turned out really well and I was trying to figure out what to do for an encore. That's really not a good place to be, especially if you need to finish another painting before dark. Since I really liked the way the oranges turned out yesterday, I decided to do a little more with that.

I want to say how much I admire all of the artists out there that successfully finish a painting every single day. I am finding this challenge daunting. It's a good thing it will be over in another week; my brains feel like they are about to burst. Wow!

To purchase this painting, please go to the 30 in 30 Challenge page on my website. All of the other challenge paintings from this month are there as well.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Day 20 of the 30 in 30 Challenge. I decided to revisit the fruit on a high shelf idea - this time with orange on blue. I've been using the challenge as a way to really work on my palette knife skills and they seem to be improving. I am feeling much more confident with my ability to put the paint where I want it and have it work. Although this painting is blue dominant, I used only one blue with a yellow, an orange and a red plus white.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Day 18 of the 30 in 30 Challenge. Close observers will note that I skipped number 17 - I failed to post yesterday. I may, however, recover by the end of the month - we'll see.

I'm still playing with the abstraction/palette knife thing. Today, I started with a warm gold under painting and a red, brown, and green abstract pattern over it. Then, using a bunch of photos of bamboo for reference, I used a brush to draw a pattern of bamboo canes onto the abstract pattern. Once dry, I went in with my painting knives to create the bamboo canes and the leaves. The last step was to paint out some more of the background because it was too assertive. To my eye, the leaves need more work - the idea is right, but the execution could be a bit better. Still , overall, a fun piece.

This painting is not for sale, but I do have more paintings (as well as cards and prints) available on my website and on Daily Paintworks (icon at right).

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Day 16 of the 30 in 30 Challenge. I had so much fun with the painting I did yesterday that I decided to do another one. This one has about 10 layers.

I started with a yellow under painting. Then I put on an abstract patchwork of color. Then a drawing of the pears. So far, so good. I painted in the pears but they didn't pop. So I started putting in the fire color below them, wiping out almost all of the abstract pattern underneath. I decided I really liked that effect so I left it. Then I started working on the area behind the pears. First I made it a mid-tone using the colors in the rest of the painting - no good. So, I thought, " maybe lighter." I put in a warm buff color. That was even worse. Finally, I decided to try using the same dark that I used at the bottom of the page - much better. The last step was putting some green back into the lower area to help bridge it to the pears. I'm pretty happy with the result.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Day 15 of the 30 in 30 Challenge. This painting is an experiment in the intersection of the real and abstract. I started with a completely abstract background, drew the still life on top of it, and then painted the fruit and shadows. I rather like the effect. In fact, I like it well enough to try some more. I'm sure that with practice I will be able to do a better job integrating the abstract layer and the representational layer.

This painting is not for sale, but I do have other paintings available on my website and on my Daily Paintworks Gallery (icon at right.)

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Day 14 of the 30 in 30 Challenge. I've been trying to master birds. I feel like I'm making progress, but I'm not there yet. Using a palette knife adds to the challenge. I may go back to this one a little later (once the thick paint has dried) to work on the feet.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Day 13 of the 30 in 30 Challenge. I have to admit, I am feeling challenged! Today I resorted to rummaging through my refrigerator for a subject to paint. I found a carton of brown eggs which I took upstairs to my studio. I tried a variety of compositions, and decided on this one for today. As anyone who paints knows, eggs look like they should be easy to paint, but getting them to look round (or rather oval) is challenging. I'm using the challenge as an means to improve my palette knife skills.

Today's painting is not for sale. I do have other work that you might like on my web site and in my Daily Paintworks Gallery (click on the icon at right).

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Day twelve of the 30 in 30 Challenge. I decided to try another tree sparrow. This one is on gessoboard. It is a bit better than the last one, but there is still more to learn. It was a bit tricky because of the details - they're pretty hard to get right with a palette knife. In the end, I used a brush for the feet, beak, and eye.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Day eleven of the 30 in 30 Challenge. I thought I would try a tree sparrow today. This one is on a scrap of mat board. I was working on proportions and color. I plan to try another one on gessoboard - maybe tomorrow. I like paintings of birds because when you get them right, they have a lot of personality.

I love watching the birds in our yard. We have a bunch of feeders near our apple trees - a combination that seems to attract a lot of different kinds of birds.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Day ten of the 30 in 30 Challenge. I started this one the other day and then set it aside. So, when I ran out of time today, I picked it back up and finished it. It's a fun idea, but I think there might be a better way to compose it. I do like all of the colors of the packages.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Well, this was a lot more involved than I thought it would be. I'm glad I finished it, but I will think carefully before tackling another one at this size. I think a bigger size could be really fun, because you could really get into the color variations and shadows on the individual parts of the cone. Day nine of the 30 in 30 Challenge.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Day eight of the 30 in 30 Challenge. This pair of garlic bulbs was an exercise in the use of blues. The dominant color is phthalo blue a strong greenish blue (even though I use the red shade). I mixed it with alizarin crimson, cadmium orange, Naples yellow (Golden's version) and white to get the range of blues that I needed. As with yesterday's painting, the camera and my computer really didn't want to cooperate - the blues are off and some of the contrast has been lost. Nevertheless, you can get a pretty good idea of what the painting looks like.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

In this painting, I decided to try a different palette. I like the impact of the cool blues in the shadows and the bright white in the light. I struggled with the photograph, though; I had a lot of trouble getting the blues right (in the actual painting, the foreground has a slight greenish tint to the blue, and the highlighted side of the front garlic has more nuance in the colors.)

Today is Day 7 in the 30 in 30 Challenge. I am getting into making a painting each day, although I admit that I almost hit the panic button yesterday afternoon when I was trying to decide what to do next. I am learning a lot about paint handling, color choices, and composition, so that is definitely a good thing.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Another garlic painting. I am "working the composition." The idea is to experiment with the arrangement of the bulbs, the lighting, the aspect ratio of the substrate (length vs.width), and the colors to find the most interesting compositions. I like this arrangement, but I think I might try it again with the front bulb more to the right so that more of the rear bulb shows. There's always more to learn.

Today is Day Six of the 30 in 30 Challenge. Doing the challenge forces me to paint every single day. I generally paint most days, but I don't always finish what I'm working on, so the challenge is shaking up my habits a bit. Needing to finish something every day also means revisiting subjects or even working in a series because it takes too much time to create an entirely new design with new subject matter every day. So, this month, I will probably be doing quite a few garlic paintings although I expect to intersperse them with other stuff (like abstracts.)

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Abstract today. I have been trying my hand at abstraction. In this one, I started with a red-orange under-painting, and after it was dry, I used a palette knife to add the blues and grays allowing some skipping to show the red underneath. Then I used a squeegee to lift patterns out of the top layer, exposing the reds and oranges. The final step was to add more oranges and reds to some of the curved patterns to make them pop a bit more. What a lot of fun. The hardest parts are trusting my intuition on the composition and knowing when to stop.

Day five of the 30 in 30 Challenge. Even at this early stage, I am
finding it challenging - I guess that's part of the point, isn't it?
Yesterday, I was prowling around the studio trying to figure out what to
paint next, knowing the clock was ticking.

Friday, January 3, 2014

I have been experimenting with setting up a still life in a box lined in white I use a really bright lamp to get strong shadows. Then I introduce various backgrounds and bottom colors to see what happens. In this painting, I set up garlic on a creamy colored paper with a hot orange-red background. Then I moved the light to create really dramatic shadows. I like the effect.

Day three of the Challenge. So far, so good. I started out this challenge by working ahead. I find that works better for me than trying to catch up once I have fallen behind.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

A few years back, my husband and I were out on a hike in late autumn and discovered a bird's nest in a shrub filled with red berries. The birds were long gone. I don't know if the berries just fell into the nest or if some enterprising rodent decided the nest was a wonderful storage place for a winter cache.

Today is day two of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. To see the works of the other people doing the challenge, see Leslie Saeta's Slices of Life Blog.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year! It is day one of Leslie Saeta's new 30 in 30 Challenge. In this challenge, those of us who have signed up attempt to paint 30 paintings in 30 days during the month of January. I decided to sign up in spite of my dismal performance in the last one I tried back in September - I figured there was no where to go but up.

This is my first painting of the new year. I am working on integrating abstraction into my paintings. So, on some works I am starting with something representational and adding abstract elements; on others, I am starting with pure abstraction and adding representational elements. In this one, I just went for a purely abstract design.

To purchase: If you would like to purchase this painting, go to the 30 in 30 Challenge page on my website.

About Me

I am a painter living in Vermont. I've been painting for about 20 years learning as I go along. In the last couple of years I've been learning a bunch of new painting techniques and experimenting with new subject matter.